T he Need for a Multi-Facetted Approach to Cockatoo Conservation in Indonesia

Part One: Returning Wild Parrots to their Forest Homes by Stewart Metz, M.D. Director, The Indonesian Parrot Project, and Konservasi Kakatua Indonesia

Returning Wild Parrots to their Natural Homes in the Forest

As we are all aware, the root causes of parrot smuggling in Indonesia are both complex and multiple. They include severe poverty (which unfortunately is worst in the Eastern part of Indonesia—where the parrots are found); government ignorance and corruption; the deep fascination with caged birds as status-symbols; and above all, the virtual absence of understanding of the basic nature of parrots and their needs, especially in captivity. Therefore it only makes sense that a multi-facetted program is required to attempt to stop, or even reduce, this inhumane practice. Some of that work will be required in the field (in situ conservation), some involves confiscated parrots who—regrettably—relegated to captivity (ex situ conservation), at least for a while; others involve the parrots only indirectly, for example by fostering attitudinal changes in the local people through , for example, bird-watching expeditions.

In this article, I  provide an overview of the ‘ex situ’ work of the Indonesian Parrot Project—namely, rehabilitating confiscated wild parrots and releasing them back into the forest from which they were taken.